The Other Side of the Door (2016 film)
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| The Other Side of the Door | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Johannes Roberts |
| Written by |
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| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Maxime Alexandre |
| Edited by | Baxter |
| Music by | Joseph Bishara |
| Distributed by | 20th Century Fox |
Release date |
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Running time | 95 minutes[1] |
| Countries |
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| Language | English |
| Box office | $7.9 million[2] |
The Other Side of the Door is a 2016 British-Indian supernatural horror film directed by Johannes Roberts and co-written by Roberts and Ernest Riera. Starring Sarah Wayne Callies, Jeremy Sisto, Javier Botet, and Sofia Rosinsky, the film was released in the United Kingdom and the United States on March 4, 2016.
Plot
Six years after losing her son Oliver in a car accident in India, his mother Maria is a wreck. During the accident, Maria chose to save her youngest daughter Lucy instead of Oliver and the guilt devastated her. One night, her husband Michael finds Maria unconscious after a failed suicide attempt. Awakening in hospital, Maria is comforted by her housekeeper Piki. Piki explains that she had lost a daughter and asks Maria if she wants one final chance to say goodbye to Oliver. She explains that in her village, there is an abandoned temple where the line between the living and the dead is very thin. Maria must scatter her son's ashes at the temple steps and then lock herself in. Oliver will speak to her once night falls. However, Piki makes Maria promise that no matter what Oliver says, Maria must not open the temple door for him. Maria agrees and the pair have Oliver's body exhumed and burned. Maria recovers Oliver's beloved stuffed toy from his body and notices some strange men chanting, covered in ash. Piki explains that they are shamans who consume the flesh of the dead and coat themselves in ash to strengthen their bonds between the worlds of the living and the dead.
The next day Maria arrives at the temple. She spreads Oliver's ashes and enters locking herself in. As she explores she uncovers a mummified corpse of a woman. Night falls and Oliver begins talking to Maria. Maria apologies to Oliver for leaving him. Oliver starts pleading with Maria to open the door and explains that someone is taking him. Maria panics and opens the door but can't see find anyone behind the door. She leaves the temple after being spooked by a shaman and returns home the next day. Now having closure, Maria focuses her attention on Michael and Lucy but she doesn't tell Piki that she opened the door. She makes love to Michael for the first time in a while. The next day, Maria watches Lucy play the song that she and Oliver used to perform on the piano. Maria watches as the piano plays itself and Lucy tells Maria that Oliver has come back. Later that night Lucy and Maria agree to keep Oliver's return a secret from Michael. Lucy mentions that she thinks Oliver is hiding from someone but he won't tell her who. Maria enters Oliver's room and a chair suddenly moves towards Maria along with The Jungle Book, which Maria was reading to Oliver when he died but never finished. Realising Oliver wants her to read and finish the book she does so. Maria has a terrifying dream later on about a hideous figure crawling towards her. The next day Piki notices that nearby plants have started dying and begins to suspect that Maria has done something terrible at the temple.
Lucy's pet birds die suddenly and when Maria and Lucy go to bury them at sea, Maria has ash rubbed on her head by a shaman. Lucy and Maria return home and later that night the decomposed body of Oliver appears near Lucy. Soon after, Lucy tells Maria that she doesn't like Oliver anymore and that he is mean. While bathing Lucy, Maria discovers a bite mark on her shoulder, which is implied to be Oliver's doing. She then enters Oliver's room and tells him that he can't hurt Lucy. Oliver pulls out the chair and book again and Maria starts reading to him as long as he doesn't hurt Lucy. Oliver seems to agree. Maria gets a call from Michael saying he is stuck at work and won't be home for a while. Someone knocks at the door and Maria answers it. She sees a shaman and orders him off her property. He points behind Maria and Maria turns to see the mummified body from the temple behind her. It chases Maria in the rain but vanishes soon after. The next day Piki confronts Maria and tells her she knows that she opened the door. She tells Maria that due to her actions, Oliver's soul has become corrupted and evil. The strange figure Maria was chased by is The Gate Keeper, who reclaims the soul of the dead, and will kill anyone in its way. Piki urges Maria to burn all of Oliver’s possessions to break his hold on the living world or he will continue to cause harm to the family.
Maria proposes to Michael that they should move back to the USA. Michael is open to the idea. Maria suddenly starts hallucinating. When Michael snaps Maria out of it, they realise Lucy is missing. Maria runs into the busy streets looking for her but gets lost. She is attacked by The Gate Keeper who vanishes when Michael shows up with Lucy who was just outside the front door the whole time. Back at the house Piki is packing up all of Oliver's possessions getting ready to burn them. Piki's daughter rises out of the pond and lures Piki to her where Oliver's spirit drowns her. Maria, Michael and Lucy return home and discover Piki's body. At Piki's funeral, Michael notices the shamans. Maria goes outside and burns all of Oliver's possessions. Michael comes home and sees Maria burning Oliver's stuff. Michael calls Maria crazy as she explains everything that has happened is her fault. Maria tries to get Lucy to explain what has been going on to Michael but Lucy denies any knowledge of what is happening. The group head inside and Maria sees Lucy with black eyes. She realises that Oliver has possessed Lucy. She tells Michael but Michael does not believe her and locks her in a room saying he will get Maria help.
The Shamans begin to crowd the house and Michael heads to call the police. The possessed Lucy kills the family dog and stabs Michael in the chest wounding him. Michael crawls away realising that Maria is right. Oliver plans to kill Michael so it will just be him (As Lucy) and Maria forever. Maria breaks out of the room and heads up to Oliver's room where she sees Shaman's chanting over Lucy's body. Since they cannot remove the spirit from Lucy they plan to sacrifice her. Meanwhile The Gate Keeper makes it's way to Oliver's room. Just as one of the men goes to strike, Michael stops him. Maria goes down to Lucy and tells Oliver that he needs to leave. Oliver says he is scared, but Maria says she will go with him (to save Lucy and atone for leaving him). Oliver’s spirit leaves Lucy’s body and hugs Maria, absorbing into her. She charges the shaman with the knife, telling him to take her instead. He obliges her, fatally stabbing her. She falls to the ground, with Michael and Lucy screaming in horror. Maria awakens in the room alone. The Gate Keeper shows up soon after and pulls away her hands from her face. Maria looks deep into her eyes. The Gate Keepers eyes crack down the middle with light much like a door, and the light envelops Maria. Back in the real world, Maria closes her eyes and dies. Lucy cries out for her mother, begging her not to go.
Maria then wakes up and briefly believes that she is alive. She hears Michael's voice call out for her saying he misses her so much. Maria gets up and sees the temple steps. She realises Michael is attempting the same ritual to say goodbye as she did with Oliver. Maria screams for him not to open the door but he does as the screen cuts to black. As Michael disobeyed the rules and opened the door, Maria's soul will become corrupted and she will turn on her family like Oliver did starting the curse again.
Cast
- Sarah Wayne Callies as Maria, a younger mother and Michael's wife, who wants to bring back her son from the dead.
- Jeremy Sisto as Michael, Maria's husband.
- Javier Botet as Myrtu
- Sofia Rosinsky as Lucy, Maria and Michael's daughter and Oliver's younger sister.
- Logan Creran as Oliver, Maria and Michael's deceased son, Lucy's older brother and the main antagonist.
- Jax Malcolm as the voice of Oliver.
- Suchitra Pillai-Malik as Piki
Release
The film was originally scheduled to be released on 26 February 2016.[3] However, the release date was pushed back to 11 March 2016 and then later moved up to 4 March 2016.[4][5] It opened on March 4th, 2016 in limited release at only 546 locations where it got $1.2 million dollars opening at #16. As of March 28th, 2016 it has $2,871,432 in the United States and $4,536,933 internationally for a total of $7,408,365.
Reception
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 46%, based on 24 reviews, with an average rating of 5.1/10. The site's consensus reads, "Laden with flimsy jump scares and cheap stereotypes, The Other Side of the Door wastes solid work from Sarah Wayne Callies on thoroughly middling horror fare."[6] Metacritic gives the film a score of 41 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "mixed to average reviews".[7]
References
- ^ "THE OTHER SIDE OF THE DOOR (15)". British Board of Film Classification. 20 November 2015. Retrieved 20 November 2015.
- ^ "The Other Side of the Door (2016)". The Numbers. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
- ^ Han, Angie (24 November 2015). "Fox Finally Gets Around To Pulling 'Fantastic Four 2' Off Its Release Calendar". Slashfilm.com. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
- ^ Billington, Alex (25 November 2015). "Sarah Wayne Callies in Trailer for Horror 'The Other Side of the Door'". FirstShowing.net. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
- ^ "Watch An Exclusive Trailer for The Other Side of The Door". Conversationsabouther.com. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
- ^ "The Other Side of the Door (2016)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 8 April 2016.
- ^ "The Other Side of the Door reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved 22 March 2016.
External links
- The Other Side of the Door at IMDb
- The Other Side of the Door at Box Office Mojo
- The Other Side of the Door at Rotten Tomatoes
- Please use a more specific Metacritic template.